Friday, March 2, 2018

This year’s Record Store Day isn’t until April 21, but information is already starting to trickle out. The Second Disc website, a great source for RSD info, recently reported that three David Bowie releases will be available. They are Welcome To The Blackout, a three-record set of live performances from the artist’s 1978 Isolar World Tour; a 12-inch single with an extended “Let’s Dance” newly remixed by Nile Rogers; and a reissue of the 1978 promo album Bowie Now, on white vinyl. Led Zeppelin will offer a seven-inch single on RSD with previously unreleased versions of “Rock And Roll” and “Friends.”

The Breeders’ new album All Nerve came out today. Other releases due this month include Francis Trouble by Albert Hammond, Jr.; American Utopia by David Byrne; In Your Own Sweet Time by The Fratellis; I’ll Be Your Girl by The Decembrists; Space Gun by Guided By Voices; and Boarding House Reach by Jack White.

Tickets are now on sale for the Pitchfork Music Festival, with Tame Impala, Japandroids, and several other artists on July 20 –22; Yeah Yeah Yeahs at Aragon Ballroom on May 29; Gomez at The Vic on June 15 and 16; Joan Baez at the Chicago Theatre on October 5; and Alan Parsons Project on June 5 at Copernicus Center.

The Continental Drifters are back in action and have a gig coming up on May 26 at the Tipitina’s club in New Orleans. The band includes Peter Holsaple of The dB’s, Vicky Peterson of The Bangles, and Susan Cowsill of the Cowsills.

The Bangles are one of the many big name acts scheduled for the Arroyo Seco Weekend festival in Pasadena on June 23 and 24. Neil Young; Jack White; The Pretenders; Belle and Sebastian; The Specials; Dwight Twilley; Robert Plant and The Sensational Space Shifters; Violent Femmes; and Los Lobos are some of the other artists scheduled to perform.

The world premiere of the Paul Edwards adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s Picture Of Dorian Gray, opens tonight at City Lit, and will run through April 15. The Edwards version sets the drama in New York from 1970 through 1980.

Karen Gillan, who easily transitioned The Doctor’s fiery companion Amy Pond on Doctor Who to the formidable villain Nebula in Guardians Of The Galaxy, has written and directed The Party’s Just Beginning, her first feature film. She also stars in comedy/drama, along with Lee Pace and Matthew Beard. Gillan was on hand when the film had its world premiere at the 14th Glasgow Film Festival on February 24.

The 19th Chicago Irish Film Festival - Films from the Land of Storytelling opened yesterday, and will run through this Sunday at the Gallery Theatre and Logan Theatre. Both venues are located on Milwaukee Avenue. The event will include feature films, shorts, and documentaries.

Abbey Road, which recently added two new studios and a mix stage, was named 2018 Studio of The Year at the Music Producers Guild - MPG Awards yesterday. My wife Pam and I saw Abbey Road when we visited London in 2006, but we weren’t allowed inside.

The Jewish Film Festival opens tomorrow and will run on weekends through March 18. A total of 31 films will be screened at ArcLight Chicago, ArcLight Glenview, Century 12 Evanston/CineArts 6 and Century 16 Deer Park.

The Chicago European Union Film Festival kicks off next Friday, March 9 and will continue through April 5 at the Gene Siskel Film Center.

Hello, It’s Good New News For Todd Rundgren fans. He and fellow Utopia members Kasim Sulton, Willie Wilcox, and Ralph Shuckett are reuniting for a 2018 tour that will bring them to the Chicago Theatre on May 22. Other stops include Denver, Minneapolis, Toronto, Las Vegas, and Atlanta. Plus, The Second Disc website recently covered the new three-CD Todd Rundgren - All Sides Of THE ROXY, which features his residency at the L.A. club back in 1978.

Prop Thtr is promising audiences will encounter “unhinged, unpredictable, uninhibited entertainment” at its new late-night production The Uploose Odditorium coming up next Friday, March 9. The hour-long sketch comedy show starts at 10:30 p.m. and will feature Jessica Kearney, Dash Kidman, Kyra Leigh, Dylan McGorty, Matt Nikkila, Zoë Pike, and Chloe Speschockrom, with Jamie Shriner as a musical guest. Admission is $10; Prop Thtr is located at 3502-04 N. Elston.

Elizabeth Acevedo, a poetry slam champion who is now an author, will be discussing her first novel Poet X at the Seminary Co-op Bookstore in the Hyde Park neighborhood on March 10 at 5:00 p.m.

Top Chef contestant (and my nephew) Joe Flamm was the honored guest at a viewing event for his family and friends last night at the Spiaggia restaurant on Michigan Avenue in Chicago. This season had come down to three contenders—Joe, Adrienne Cheatham, and Joe Sasto—and one of them would be eliminated before the finale next week. The mood in Spiaggia’s third-floor party room was anxious but festive, and I doubt my wife Pam and I were the only ones impressed with the bond that has developed among these competing chefs. The episode also had its fun and humorous moments, and it was a kick to see former Season 15 contestants Carrie Baird, Chris Scott, and Bruce Kalman come back to help out. In the end, Joe Flamm was the first chosen to move on to next week’s finale, followed by Adrienne Cheatham. Joe Sasto, AKA, Mustache Joe, was eliminated from the competition.

A tip of the chef hat to Mustache Joe. After seeming a bit controlling at first, he now comes across as big-hearted and funny. He’ll be in town next Wednesday for the sold-out Joe-Down Throw-Down Dinner with Joe Flamm at Spiaggia.

On March 25, the Millright’s restaurant in Simsbury, CT will host Adrieene Cheatham and Chris Scott for a five course meal and cocktails to benefit the Sarcoma Foundation Of America in honor former season 15 contestant Fatima Ali, who is battling cancer.

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About This Blog

Broken Hearted Toy is an eclectic celebration of creativity, with over 2,000 posts since 2009.

It's based in Chicago but covers power pop, garage, cutting-edge, and 1960s rock from around the globe; along with occasional bits on art; literature; and theatre.

Top of the hill is a nice place to be at. - - - "Elevated Observations" by The Hollies.

Check out some of my previoius creative endeavors.

Sunday Morning Coffee With Jeff was a weekly Internet show created by and starring Jeff Kelley. It mostly consisted of comedy bits and obscure 1960s garage rock set to vintage TV and film clips but also spotlighted entertainment events around Illinois.

My wife Pam and I created a handful of series (each episode was about two minutes long) that were shown on Sunday Morning Coffee With Jeff. They included Manchester Gallery (see description below); Old Days, which I hosted in the persona of a cranky old man named Fritz Willoughby; Roving Reporter, where I played the clueless title character; What's With Terry?, a performance arts program; and Hanging With The Hollies, a takeoff on Breakfast With The Beatles.

I've also worked with Kelley and Willy Deal on comedy clips, and with Kelley and David Metzger on films for the annual Nightmare on Chicago Street Halloween festival in Elgin.

I'm particularly proud of this 21-episode comedy series Pam and I created for Sunday Morning Coffee With Jeff. Each installment was a few minutes long, and featured me portraying Terrence, the curator of a pop culture museum.

I was a staff writer for this Chicago-based magazine from 1987 to 2015. The Illinois Entertainer has been covering rock music for over 40 years, and can be found in stores and entertainment venues, as well as in an online edition.

Chicago Art Machine was a web-based publishing company run by Editor-in-Chief, Kathryn Born, and Managing Editor, Robin Dluzen, that included Chicago Art Magazine, Chicago DIY Film,Chicago Performance And Trailers, and TINC. Most of my submissions appeared in Chicago DIY Film and Chicago Performance And Trailers, although I contributed to all the online Chicago Art Machine publications.

I was a writer and performer with this local comedy group from 1989 to 2009. Famous In The Future continues to perform in the Chicago area, and appeared at every one of the Abbie Hoffman Died For Our Sinstheatre festivals that were held at the Mary-Arrchie Theatre. Since the closing of the Mary-Arrchie Theatre a few years ago, Famous In The Future has carried on the tradition by presenting Yippie Fest each year in August.

I'm an active member of SCBWI, (Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators) and have written two Middle Grade fantasy novels. I've just finished a YA/paranormal novel, and also wrote a suspense/satiric novel that takes place amidst Chicago's alternative music scene in the mid-1980s.

Broken Hearted Toy

The blog title comes from the line, "I'm the brokenhearted toy you play with" in the song "I Can't Let Go" by The Hollies. One of the great original British Invasion bands, The Hollies continue to have an immense influence on power pop bands to this day, and have finally been inducted into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Here is a video of "I Can't Let Go" being performed in 1966.